Fox News ‘Doctor’ Just Asking If Joe Biden Has Dementia, That’s All

This is a video of a Fox “News” “Medical” correspondent visiting Fox and Friends to argue that Joe Biden is either a drunk, obnoxious asshole OR a senile, drunk old man with dementia. Apparently these are the only explanations for interrupting someone that isn’t Jim Lehrer—being an obnoxious asshole, or having dementia.

First they play a clip of Paul Ryan begging for mercy while Joe Biden exposes his lies about Medicare, and then cut to guy-who-is-not-Steve-Doocy fake bantering with lady-who-is-not-Gretchen-Garlson. “Dr.” Ablow is then asked for his professional opinion, which is that “Joe Biden has shown tremendous disregard for the opinions of others” because something about lying about how good he performed in college. (We found this part confusing, but whatever, it’s Fox & Friends and we went into it with low expectations. So far, we are not disappointed.) But it’s not just that Joe Biden has a low regard for other people’s opinions — isn’t “bizarre laughter” and “interrupting” indicative of something more serious, like dementia? He’s just saying, that’s all, just throwing it out there, just asking a question, because after all, Dr. Ablow doesn’t TREAT Joe Biden; he just goes on Fox & Friends and speculates about the mental health of people he DOESN’T treat. Anyway, this line of reasoning was too stupid even for lady-who-isn’t-Gretchen-Carlson, who pointed out that Joe Biden’s command of details was inconsistent with a dementia diagnosis and that the substance of what he was rattling off — within the context of what he believes, of course — was solid. No problem, says Dr. Ablow, “facts” and “knowing facts” is not an issue. You can have dementia and know “facts,” and in that case, we look forward to the day that he “diagnoses” Rush Limbaugh live and on the air.

About the author

Kris E. Benson writes about politics for Wonkette and is pursuing a doctorate in philosophy. This will come in handy for when they finally open that philosophy factory in the next town over.
@Kris_E_Benson

Actually his first name is Keith, which does nothing to improve his credibility as a shrinker of people he does not actually know.

snowpointsecret

Is dementia code for laughing at the demented?

eggsacklywright

What else is one to do but laugh when confronted with absurdity?

sbj1964

Paging Dr.Assmunch,Dr. Assmunch your needed at Fox news STAT!

PsycWench

Wow, Republicans have as much trouble with evidence-based medicine as they do with evidence-based everything else.

JustPixelz

There's probably something about that in the DSM-IV. The problem is it's the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual. And I'm pretty sure Repubicans can't solve a Statistics 101 mid-term problem. So it must be wrong.

PsycWench

I believe Doctor Zoom has demonstrated to us that if Republicans cannot understand something, they simply deny it. So you are probably correct.

Willardbot9000_V2.5

Well that is confirmation bias at work for you…also explains why they listen to Flubs McRapeaboybaugh and Faux, not to informed but constantly feel legitimized. Confirmation bias is kind of funny because of shit like this: they'll literally go to insane heights to try and justify that Eddie Munster didn't get his smirking ass beat. Sure Joe Biden laughed at him but what person who isn't a wingnut neanderthal wouldn't laugh at him?!? My favorite by the way was when he tried to legitmize his paying for college with a survivor benefit while explaining why social security needs to be destroyed…it was a tour de farce.

I've just "diagnosed" "Dr." Ablow with Dick Head Syndrome because his head looks like a dick and he's acting like one.

( Fun fact: Dick Head Syndrome is named after Dr. Dick Head who first discovered the disease.)

Lucidamente1

I thought it was Ryan who needed a doctor to remove Biden's foot from his ass.

CrunchyKnee

What the fuck is it with fly-over country tea-bagger white guys and shaved heads? Are they just embracing their inner skin-head, or do they actually think that they look cool?

PsycWench

My husband says it makes it a lot easier to get ready in the morning, plus it's much less of a pain to get rained on…but if he's going to be mistaken for a Republican, I may have to get him a toupee.
The real reason, of course, is that if you're purposefully bald you don't look balding.

Biff

god only made a few perfect heads, the rest he covered with hair…

BadKitty904

If you're purposefully bald, you simply look like you tried to beat Nature to the punch before you went naturally bald. Or like a neo-Nazi.

Amen to that. A friend once told a group of women that her husband had a serious comb-over and the long hair would become unanchored and flop around during sex, making arousal rather difficult. I have mentioned that little story to every male that I thought might need to know it.

Geminisunmars

And I'm sure they were very grateful.

I use to snicker at comb-over-owners, but since I caught the olds I'm slightly more empathetic. Slightly.

PsycWench

They looked pretty horrified at first but I'm sure they were grateful eventually.

vodkamuppet

I can see how that would be distracting for both parties.

BadKitty904

It also makes bustin' out loud laughing difficult to avoid. Just sayin…

Steverino247

I thought it was the solar panel for a sex machine?

(I'm not bald, but my brother-in-law tells that joke)

CrunchyKnee

Shaved heads are just the mullets of the early 21st century. :)

gullywompr

There's a name for this type of dismissal of authority – oppositional defiant disorder. The entire right wing suffers from it.

sullivanst

Strange though, since when it's their chosen authority figures in command, they become The Authoritarians.

Schmannnity

This diagnosis just in from the Bill Frist School of Video Diagnosis.

KathrynSane

When someone mops the fucking floor with your snivelling little punk of a candidate in a debate, I don't think it really helps to claim that the guy who did said mopping was able to do it while suffering from dementia.

PsycWench

Well reality is not a strong suit: Slightly OT, yet another rightwing group takes the Onion seriously.

Hypochondriac? Ablow was describing his own symptoms, then? There's probably a compound-word for that disorder as well! All the good ones are in German…

bobbert

KopfinArsch Syndrome.

Kwachie

ROFL (completely appropriately)! Why don't we go back and parse Romney steamrolling the MC of the first debate, paying NO regard to the rules of the debate, behaving like he was then only person in the room … I'll take 2 from column "Narcissism" and 1 from column "Sociopath."

Ablow yourself.

bikerlaureate

What, are you saying "'tremendous disregard for the opinions of others' because something about lying" isn't okay when a LIEbral does it?

elviouslyqueer

A, Blow me.

BadKitty904

B. Get stuffed, ya posturing quack…

viennawoods13

You had to bring ducks into it?

cc423

"Dr." Ablow is about as big a media whore as Dick Morris. And that makes him a pretty damn big whore.

I must have a similar form of dementia, then, because I have a tremendous disregard for the opinions of most other people. In fact, I have an active sneering contempt for the opinions of most other people, and especially, of the opinions of 2 specific sets of people, the idiots, and the assholes. These sets overlap in the set of Fox viewers.

Should be. Ask Fakakta, she has a whole routine now based on observations of the natives. Hilarious, that one is!

http://lostintarnation.blogspot.com/ SayItWithWookies

Mr. Ablow is simply unaware of the appropriate reaction to a pathological liar — which is kinda surprising since I figured he's seen it on a regular basis.

PuckStopsHere

It's weird when it's the doctor who is off his meds.

Hammiepants

I guess they have never heard the expression "derisive laughter".

One_who_wanders

You would think all of them would have extensive first-hand experience in that area, Dr. Ablow in particular.

http://rightthinkingamerican.blogspot.com johnnyzhivago

Is it medically possible for a cable news channel to have dementia?

http://wonkette.com ManchuCandidate

Many of its audience does.

Geminisunmars

So it would appear.

Mittaplasia

Cable news channels are people, too, my friend.

http://twitter.com/iburl iburl

Isn't Ablow the same "Dr." who tried to tell us that Newt Gingrich would be a great president because of all the cheating, divorcing and remarrying he does? As the evolutionary superior duck would say: "QUACK!"

BoroPrimorac

He said that if we weren't careful Argentina was going to steal Newt and his amazing ideas away from us .

Is "Dr." Ablow suffering from a syphilitic mind? I don't know, I'm not a doctor. Just asking questions.

mille derps

It would be irresponsible not to speculum.

MosesInvests

I just read it on the interwebz, so it must be true!

Mittaplasia

Costco: It's not just for law degrees, any more!

…Dr. Lexus

Dr_Zoidberg

That's where I got my medical degree – they were having a two-for-one special, so I am also a certified vet tech!

Geminisunmars

I use to get my value-packed degrees there, but it was too hard to store them and use them all up before they before they went bad.

Blueb4sinrise

Joe Biden has shown tremendous disregard for the opinions of others

So Ryan was expressing opinions? Whew! That's a relief for anyone that thought he was trying to make factual claims.

vodkamuppet

We found this part confusing, but whatever, it’s Fox & Friends and we went into it with low expectations. So far, we are not disappointed.

You don't want it to make sense, if FOX starts making sense to you, you are in a bad place and should consult a physician immediately. Not Dr. Ablow though.

Dr_Zoidberg

This here is the biggest difference between Democrats and Republicans. When Obama tanked in his debate, we said "Obama tanked, did a poor job, needs to do better.'. When Ryan was eaten alive by Ol' Handsome Joe, the Republicans blame everything else, up to and including sunspots and the price of corn in Nebraska, for Ryan's poor performance.

BadKitty904

A baseless sense of entitlement requires hard work to maintain, ya know…

Fox n Fiends

Republicans, like the Pope, are infallible. Its ALWAYS someone else's fault: the Welfare Queen, the Liberal Elite, the Communist under your bed. Only God is perfect, but not as perfect as a Republican.

vodkamuppet

I think Biden and the Tri-lateral Commision must've dosed Ryans water bottle. It's the only plausable explaination.

Weenus299

Statements all FOX-employed physicians must sign on the set:

"I'm a doctor, and I'm certainly able to speak about my observations of a stranger's mannerisms in the most unethical way possible."

alzronnie

A doctor should be more concerned with Ryan's Bassethound-itis.

TootsStansbury

Goebbels wept.

BadKitty904

You know who *else* was a "Doctor"?

Mittaplasia

The commie Dr. Seuss?

Biff

Demento!

YouFail4eva

The kitten in the photo playing on the piano?

smitallica

Yes, using facts and reason to dominate a detailed, complicated argument with a pathological liar, while laughing at obvious falsehoods so bald-faced they're truly laughable.

Textbook signs of dementia.

BornInATrailer

What does this make? 3 or 4 Wonkette items for Dr. Ablow?

Terry

If laughing at chronic liars is a sign of dementia, we're all in serious trouble.

One_who_wanders

I was going to say that "Going to catholic school made me demented!"

BadKitty904

"Following his show's cancellation, Ablow has been a contributing editor for Good Housekeeping Magazine and Men's Fitness, and a columnist for the New York Post."

'Nuff said…

YouBetcha

"Dementia"? You mean "We just got our asses kicked by that jovial old fella."? OK, just checking to make sure that words mean the same things to all of us.

Dashboard Buddha

There he a-blows!!!

Oh…he wouldn't!

YouFail4eva

LAAAAAMMMMEE!!!!!!!!

BigSkullF*ckingDog

If laughing at republicans is a sign of dementia then call me demented.
Wait, what?

YouFail4eva

You're demented!

Wait, what?

http://rightthinkingamerican.blogspot.com johnnyzhivago

My wife has been spending a lot of time in Tennessee, Kentucky and Ohio lately for work and mentioned to me that when I describe the election and when she hears people in those places describe the election it's as if we are in two completely different countries. She also noted that in a lot of airports they have FOX and CNN monitors and different looking groups of people congregate in front of each of them.

Steverino247

I've noticed that monitor grouping as well.

True story: A few years ago I was in a hotel in Chicago "enjoying" the standard breakfast fare of such places and CNN Headline News was on. For about 30 minutes I watched the most banal lineup of "news" I'd ever witnessed. I was prompted to blurt out "Our Army is in the field and this is all you put on television?!" Everybody else looked around as if a shot had rung out. But they stopped watching it after that.

BigSkullF*ckingDog

KKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKK!

You guys thought they were back for a second, didn't you?

vodkamuppet

NUTS ARE YOU!

Blueb4sinrise

I loathe you draft that is best handled his !!!

THEY HAVE BECOME Commenting on LA GO DUCKS GAY!!!

Mittaplasia

You just broke every torture rule ever! I would hope they'd been waxed by now..by votes.

MosesInvests

Bom dia!

TavariousChinaSmith

I have had it with these motherfucking Brazilians on this motherfucking plane!

http://wonkette.com WordSaladNation

This stupid motherfucker. I'm sorry, but I have no snark for this. My father died in June as a result of Lewy body dementia which did not, as "Doctor" Ablow claims, make him laugh bizarrely and interrupt people. Rather, it made him unable to communicate, completely incontinent, immobile, and left with none of the dignity that he spent over 40 years working as a physician to achieve.

http://wonkette.com/ starfanglednut

Sorry bout your dad, WSN.

YouFail4eva

No Snark. My condolences, and may you come out stronger.

Snark: Fuck Ablow.

http://hong-kong-actresses.blogspot.com/ Chow Yun Flat

Bill Frist could have used this guy during the Terri Schiavo mess. Both can diagnose from TV clips.

SpiderCrab

What does Paul Ryan have under his kilt?

Ablow! Ablow!

Mittaplasia

Same as a Ken doll only without Ken's compensating good looks.

kittensdontlie

" Ablow wrote a column arguing that Newt Gingrich's three marriages actually made him more qualified to be president: "When three women want to sign on for life with a man who is now running for president, I worry more about whether we’ll be clamoring for a third Gingrich term, not whether we’ll want to let him go after one."–Wiki

One_who_wanders

This should automatically pop up below him every time he speaks on TV.

Mittaplasia

Using that logic, why isn't Larry King president?

Biff

Because he's dead? And if he's not dead, why is he not dead?

YouFail4eva

I've been trying to kill the fucker for decades with votes. He just keeps coming back!

kittensdontlie

Not dead. His seventh wife keeps him young. Yes, he is literally sucking the life out of her.

Mittaplasia

If a robot can run for president, why should we discriminate against a zombie?

HistoriCat

The zombie is running for Vice President this year.

jamsie25

I wonder what the good doctor would have to say about Mr. Ryan posing for those really not sexy muscle shots wearing a backwards baseball cap? Would he diagnose him as a narcissistic a-hole or just a run of the mill tea bagger a-hole who is overcompensating for something?

One_who_wanders

All of them, Katie. If the poser was a Democrat.

owhatever

Now let's move on to the possibility that a purple space alien may have taken over Biden's body and reduced his intelligence level to that of a grasshopper. Dr. Ablow, your thoughts?

YouFail4eva

Herp a derp?

barto

The good doctor is simply following the fine tradition of "remote video diagnostician" which was first brought to prominence by the gifted Senator (Dr.) Frist when he gave Terri Shiavo a clean bill of health right on the senate floor based on a video feed he just saw. If only all doctors were as good as these two our health care bills would plummet to damn near zero as we can all just skype it in!

YouFail4eva

So what you are saying, is that the Cisco video with the doctor in Copenhagen is not the future?

sullivanst

Yeah, Fox, great plan, it makes Ryan look sooooo much better if you can make your audience believe that the guy who wiped the floor with him was suffering from dementia. Can't even beat an old, with all your P90X? Go back to Wiscahnsin!

a_pink_poodle

Is this vengeance over questioning whether the Patron Saint of the GOP, His Holiness, Ronald Reagan had Alzheimer's or not?

HarryButtle

Anyway, this line of reasoning was too stupid even for lady-who-isn’t-Gretchen-Carlson, who pointed out that Joe Biden’s command of details was inconsistent with a dementia diagnosis and that the substance of what he was rattling off — within the context of what he believes, of course — was solid.

If she keeps this up, she won't be allowed to not be Gretchen Carlson for very long.

CommieLibunatic

Nevermind that Biden is a teetotaler and has been for a long time. You can thank a family history of alcoholism for turning him off to the idea.

So what the good doctor is saying is that Ryan lost the debate to a man who has dementia…
Pffffttttttt

PugglesRule

Ablow. Keith Ablow. Maybe a(good)blow to the head would fix his brain.

LibrarianX

Dr. Ablow – in your expert opinion, does Willard Romney run on blood or anti-freeze?

YouFail4eva

Money?

Biff

If the debate can be analogized as a boxing match, I guess that would make "Dr." Ablow ryan's cut man in the corner. Which makes as much sense as him being an actual "Dr."

bobbert

The thing is, (a)Blow is actually an MD (Johns Hopkins, go figure), and apparently still a practicing psychiatrist when he's not running his mouth on the air. It seems to me that proposing a specific diagnosis of mental disorder, not based on personal consultation, should be a major ethics violation.

I wonder is whatever board he's certified by will say anything about this.

cheeseholm

I love how the panel's "evidence" of mental illness would pretty much disqualify every anchorperson, show lead, and producer on the Fox network.

Slim_Pickins

Bedlam calling the world crazy.

glamourdammerung

This is the same clown that felt Gingrich's multiple affairs made him particularly fit for the presidency because he could scam women into having affairs with him and then marrying him.

If Dr. Ablow wants to diagnose someone, a doctor-patient relationship is established. And medical confidentiality rules should apply.

Wile E. Quixote

I guess that Dr. Keith Ablow is unaware of section 7.3 of the American Psychiatric Association's ethics principles, the so called "Goldwater Rule" which states:

On occasion psychiatrists are asked for an opinion about an individual who is in the light of public attention or who has disclosed information about himself/herself through public media. In such circumstances, a psychiatrist may share with the public his or her expertise about psychiatric issues in general. However, it is unethical for a psychiatrist to offer a professional opinion unless he or she has conducted an examination and has been granted proper authorization for such a statement.